Venetian traveler who explored Asia in the 13th century and served Kublai Khan (1254-1324)

once, while at the sidelines of a battle the emperor was sure to win, the voyaging italian merchant marco polo saw 「the kaan」 on a hill, surveying his massed legions from a perch atop a wooden tower.

一次，在一个这位皇帝认为必胜的战场边，意大利游商马可波罗看到「大汗」在一座小山上，从一个木塔上观察他的大军。

alone and silent, i could stroll through provincial towns with a low profile, marco polo in jeans.

一个人，我能够安安静静地独自穿越大大小小的城镇，就像穿着牛仔裤的马可波罗一般低调。

over 700 years ago, marco polo opened up the contacts between china and italy. later, matteo ricci and giuseppe castiglione brought closer our two peoples.

700多年前，马可·波罗开辟了中意交往的先河，此后的利玛窦、郎世宁进一步拉近了中意两国人民的距离。

both my cats are left-pawed; marco polo (grey dsh, big amber eyes) and casper (proverbial white, albeit with orange ears/tail, dsh, blue-blue eyes).

我的两只猫都是左撇子：马克.波罗（dsh种灰猫，有大大的琥珀色眼镜）和卡斯珀（白色，只有耳朵和尾巴是橙色的，dsh品种，蓝蓝的眼睛）。

in its heyday, that is, during china’s yuan dynasty in the 13th century ad, an italian merchant named marco polo visited china and became an official in yangzhou.

在它的繁盛的时代，就是公元后十三世纪，那时是中国的元朝，有个商人名叫马可波罗曾到过中国，在扬州作过官。

but the latest claims back those made in a book by british academic frances wood in 1995 entitled 「did marco polo go to china?」.

对于这些说法最近一次的证明是在1995年，当英国学者弗朗西斯?伍德写了一本名为《马克?波罗真的去过中国吗？ 》的书。

no wonder marco polo (or his unacknowledged source?) was impressed. the venice of his day had little more than 50, 000 citizens.

无怪乎马可波罗对其印象深刻，在他生活的时代，威尼斯只有区区5万多居民。

i recalled the fate of marco polo who died under a cloud of contempt.

我想到了马可波罗的命运，他是在一团憎恶之云的笼罩中弃世的。

tom: of course, marco polo probably opened china’s gate to the outside world, and made westerners interested to china.

当然可以了，马可?波罗从一定程度上打开了中国的国门，让西方人对中国产生极大兴趣。

food was there when marco polo brought back food from asia. food was there during the first thanksgiving.

马可波罗从亚洲带回了食物可以证明，第一次感恩节也有食物证明。

marco polo used a mixture of languages to describe his travels, probably without realising that many of them were 「foreign」.

马可?波罗用了几种语言来描述他的旅行，但可能连他自己都没有意识到其中有很多是「外语」。

marco polo raved about turkmen carpets when he passed through in the 13th century; visitors can buy one to take home at the tolkuchka bazaar, one of the largest markets in central asia.

13世纪当马可波罗经过这儿时曾对土库曼地毯赞不绝口；游客可以从tolkuchka市场（中亚最大的市场之一）买一条带回家中。

he makes a detailed description of lugouqiao (1) in his travel notes. that is why europeans today still refer to lugouqiao as marco polo bridge.

在他的游记里，曾仔细地描写过芦沟桥，因此直到现在，欧洲人还把芦沟桥称作马可波罗桥。